May 1, 2003 - MPR’s Elizabeth Stawicki reports on the Minnesota Supreme Court ruling that police must suspect a motorist has committed a particular crime before asking for consent to search a vehicle following a routine traffic stop. Len Castro, Hennepin County's Chief Public Defender had argued such search requests were racial profiling tools. Justice Alan Page wrote for the court’s majority decision. Report also includes commentary from Pete Cahill, Assistant Hennepin County attorney; and Rev Albert Gallmon, president of the Minneapolis chapter of the NAACP.
May 1, 2003 - Governor Tim Pawlenty has released new guidelines for distributing aid payments to cities across Minnesota. Administration officials say the new local government aid formula eliminates historical inequities in state assistance and focuses exclusively on a city's needs and resources. But city representatives say the formula isn't the point. While the distribution of aid may change, they argue the governor is also slashing the total amount of aid across the board, leaving municipal officials with few options. Minnesota Public Radio's Michael Khoo reports.
May 2, 2003 - MPR’s Dan Olson profiles the music known as Mariachi, and one of Minnesota's best-known Mariachi bands, Mariachi Flor y Canto, as they prepare to perform in the state's biggest Cinco de Mayo celebration on St. Paul's West Side.
May 2, 2003 - MPR's Marisa Helms reports that the University of Minnesota's School of Music is marking 100 years of developing many of the region's foremost music teachers, performers and composers. Helms looks into the school and its history.
May 2, 2003 - Samantha Power, Pulitzer Prize-winning author, and executive director at the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government spoke Wednesday at the University of Minnesota. Power says the United States should do more to try to stop genocide throughout the world. Her recent book is "A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide". The event was arranged by The Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies, and the College of Liberal Arts.
May 6, 2003 - A new Minnesota Public Radio-St. Paul Pioneer Press poll finds about half of those polled think Governor Pawlenty is doing a good or excellent job. That's about the same as in a February poll by the same organizations. But the number of people rating his performance "poor" more than doubled, rising from 8 to 17 percent. Craig Grau is a political science professor at the University of Minnesota-Duluth, and he's on the line now. That is Craig Grau, a political science professor at the University of Minnesota Duluth.
May 6, 2003 - Mainstreet Radio’s Bob Reha reports on the National Symphony Orchestra visit to North Dakota, as part of the American Residency Program that the orchestra began in 1992. In two weeks, the musicians will have performed 200 concerts and workshops across the state.
May 6, 2003 - Mainstreet Radio’s Chris Julin went listening for frogs with a couple of volunteers. The two are amongst dozens of volunteers across Minnesota driving backroads, looking for puddles and ponds, and listening for frog music.
May 6, 2003 - Two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning author Robert Caro gave Monday's Distinguished Carlson Lecture at the University of Minnesota's Humphrey Institute. He is the author of a multi-volume biography of Lyndon Johnson, the most recent book is Master of the Senate, which won the 2003 Pulitzer Prize.
May 7, 2003 -